Zero Suicide Training and Drop-in

Zero Suicide is a BHAG for our organisation with the aim to implement the essential components of our Trust Suicide Prevention Strategy, improving the quality of care delivered to patients as well as best practice for safety and service user experience, in order to help save lives.

Within our strategy, eRisk is one of the board approved priorities for implementation. eRisk (effective Risk Intervention SKills) training aims to enhance knowledge, skills, competencies, and confidence of the workforce to carry out risk assessments, formulation, management plans and safety plans.  More information can be found here.

The training is available as online learning via eLearning systems (access via ESR training portal).  There is also the option to attend a taught session delivered by the Safe from Suicide Team, this is the third Tuesday of every month, with the next session being Tuesday 17 May, 9.30am to 3.30pm.  If you would like to attend please contact Safefrom.Suicide@merseycare.nhs.uk.  If you would be interested in being a cascade trainer for eRisk for your team please also contact Safefrom.Suicide@merseycare.nhs.uk.

It is expected that all staff involved in delivering patient care complete the eRisk training by end of August 2022. While this is mandatory for staff delivering patient care in our mental health services, we know that staff in our physical health services may also benefit from developing awareness and skills in this area.

Progress to date around eRisk has been really positive and we want to thank all teams for your support with this.  More than 80 percent of colleagues across local and secure divisions and 65 percent of colleagues across Mid Mersey have already completed eRisk training.

Action

• Please make sure staff have allocated time to complete the training
• After completing the training all staff are expected to use the Mersey Care safety plan documentation to ensure a consistent approach across the organisation. This can be downloaded as an editable PDF (there is also the safety flashcard for use in single contact services). Please also see the practical guide here, for more guidance
• After completing the training all staff are expected to record the safety plan documentation within RIO in the My Safety Plan tab. Please refer to the practical guide here, which gives a step by step overview as to how to do this
• Within 12 months of attending the training, please make sure you complete your competency assessment and that your supervisor has recorded this is your supervision record.

If anyone has any questions in relation to eRisk, before, during or after completing the training please contact the Safe from Suicide Team by emailing Safefrom.Suicide@merseycare.nhs.uk.

There is also a Safe from Suicide drop-in held once a month (on the second Tuesday of the month, 10am to 12.30pm) that you can attend if you have any queries – if you would like to attend you can email Safefrom.Suicide@merseycare.nhs.uk.